REPORT #403 January 2001
EUROPEAN STYLE DEMOCRACY AND WHY IT FAILS AROUND THE WORLD

There is a lament, particularly heard in our neighboring Caribbean
and Latin American countries on the failures of democracy to work. There
are many variations on democratic government, so as is true of all
generalisms, one cannot paint them all with the same brush.
Nevertheless, having studied the matter for some 20 years, I think I can
put my finger on a relative generalism that points to the successes and
failures of democracy around the world.

Essentially, it boils down to European style democracy versus that of
Switzerland and the USA. True! There are variations on European style
democracy and they are not all truly the same, but essentially in the
basics they are.

Democracy is touted to be the transfer of power, peacefully, from one
government to another. But is that all democracy is? Not at all!
Democracy and the variations is much more than that.

In general, those countries applying European style democracy have
flaws in their operating characteristics. European style inherited
democracies only have one aspect that is democratic. That is the
peaceful transfer of power from one group to another group. After that,
they fail miserably.

Again, using generalisms. European style democracy, means that the
people of a country are 'subjects' of the government. They are owned by
the country. The country, or government is owned by a single political
party in a hieracheal structure from the top down distribution. The
people do not own their government, or lower level governments. The
people are basically feudal serfs, still owned by the state. The state
is owned by a winning political party and the party is owned by a small
clique, or handful of mafia within the political party. England with
which Belizeans are familiar and copied their government has this same
model. As do most of the Caribbean countries and the Latin countries of
our American continent as they also follow a similar model of Spanish
feudal origin.

This system fails in comparison to the economic successes of
Switzerland and the USA. Why? At root is the fact that both of these
countries fought for their independence from monarchist feudal rule.
They designed their constitutions to prevent such concentrations of power
and distribution method from happening ever again in a hieracheal top
down control methodology.

Both the Swiss and the USA models of democracy are different from all
other European inherited style democracies. The basic difference is that
the people own the government, or lower level governments, whereas
European democracies share the fact, that their governments own their
people. The government does not own the people in a successful
democracy. How is this difference achieved?

It changes from place to place, from US state to USA state, or Swiss
Canton to Swiss Canton. But basically, the people own their government.
In these two nationalistic models that have been so economically and
socially successful, the difference is that there are many multiple
layers of independent governments within the major national country
government. These two countries practice federalism. There are
governments within governments within governments, within governments in
these two countries and each layered level is owned by the lower level
government. Power flows from the broad base of people at the bottom to
the top of the governing pyramid. This creates a sense of ownership by
the people and a government of ever changing consensus, versus European
style of mafia small political party mandated rule by a small group, or
clique.

In the European democratic system; power is concentrated at the top
and flows downward through the pyramid of power, decision and policy making.

Successful democracy then, is more than simply the peaceful transfer of
power from one group to another. It must be accompanied by federalism,
and multiple layered levels of independent governments in which the
structure of power and authority flows from the broad based people owned
governments at the bottom of the pyramid to the small peak of the pyramid
at the top. The bottom governments must own the higher levels of
government. This provides an ever changing dynamic fluid of concensus by
the masses.

So, when we lament about the problems of Jamaica, Belize, Colombia,
Peru and those places and say that democracy is failing. When their
people cry they need a strong man leader, ruler, dictator. It is simply
that democracy has not gone deep enough in these countries. They are
practicising the wrong democracy. They are practicing monarchist feudal
style democracy, where the people are owned by one clique, within one
political party at the top of the pyramid of government and the only
aspect of true successful democracy that is done; is the exchange of
political power at the top of the pyramid governing structure from one
small power group to another. Democracy is more than that to be
successful. All democracies in the world are not equal!